Cradle for flatcars



Aug, 3U, 1949. A. L. cuPP 2,480,121

CRADLE FOR FLATC ARS Filed Oct. 10, 1944 'Il'A f www? ,4L/fred L. Cuff J [n-7% Z M Patented Aug. 30, 1949 u-Nir En sf'mrr Es rarest or Fics FOR FEA'IGRS Alfredfh. (Jupp, Alexandriagrvw.

Application Octobcrw, 1944`Seral No. 558,0597

1i (laixmA (Cl. 1053-3685) (Granted under the act of' March. 3 1883;. as amended April 30, 1928;A 370 O. G. 7,57).

This invention' describedherein may beY manufactured and used by or for the Governmentf-or governmental purposes, Withoutlthe, payment to me of. any royalty` thereon. l

This invention relatestofa cradle for railwal7 flatcars. Itsiprimaryv object is toadaptlsuch.at carsfor transporting vehicles in` sucht a manner as1 toA obtain maximum freight capacity with a minimum of atcar surface. A furtherv obiectis to provide such a cradle. which,` in addition to increasing the supportingA capacity of, thefiatcar, functionsg when installed, as av chockr block. to limitxmovement of. the. transportedA vehicles during passage,` thereby eliminating. the. necessity for the additional labor and. material, required to properly secure said vehicles. againstl lessor damage during movement.. Theincrease in the sup,- porting capacity ofi thefiatcar is eiectedwithout increasing the overall length or widthof theilatcar.

In transporting motor vehicles. by railroad, using the one-quarter ton. military truck,.. famili.- iarly known as a jeep,r merely for the purpose of illustraticn,. it. has been foundJ that, only four of these can be placed on the average ilatcar dlue toits length and narrow width.Y Such vehicles are substantially narrower than the/,Widthot the average ilatcar and. yet are not narrow enough tot. permit placingtwo. of them side by side4 on such a car.

By the use of. the present inventiom. the ca.- pacity of the average atcar" is, doubled` for the loading ofvehicles of the type mentioned.` and also makes it available for loading other exceptionally wide vehiclesI by slightly extending its width for vehicle transport purposes without mterfering' with or restricting the normal; rail traffic movements of said fiatcar over the rafillway systems now in use, and: Without. making any structural alterationsin. said flatcar; When not I in. use for transportingl vehicles, thecradIe forming this invention. may be removed the car and stored.

The average flatcar in normal traffic use is approximately nine feet four inches wide. This is a standard atcar width. Cars of greater width are available but are not normally manufactured and are not usually `available in suflicient quantities to meet emergency demands, as the average width fiatcar -of the character mentioned above suices for normal requirements. The present invention adapts such standard width atcar for emergency use as a car of greater width and obviates the necessity for the construction of special latcars to meet these emergency needs.

other important. objects of the invention will appear by reference to the accompanying draw*- ings and; specification,v embodying one practical form-of the invention;

In.- the dra-wingse--V Figure 1- is. a: planl viewI of the cradle forming this. invention,

Figurez is at similar view showing ai series of said! cradles.` installedy upon they surface of4 a fiat'- ear.

Figure Itl is an enlarged detail;v partly inY sectioin snowing; the manner of: constructingl the cradle.

Figure 4- is a diagrammaticl side' elevation showingthefinventicrr in use; with a` number of vehiclessupported thereby:

Figure is a: rear view of the; embodiment shown intligure.

Figurer 6-is a view showing, the manner'of loading vehicles prior 4to` the use ofi' the present invent-ion.y

Eigs'? isa fragmentary end viewshowing means for securingthe cradle of the present invention .tothe stakezpocketsof the car to which the-cradle 1sapplied..

In= the drawings: a1 railroadatcar is shown at A1. Thecradie to bex applied thereto is shown. in Figure 1-,. comprising: longitudinal members or loa-rs Ik; IIV andpairs of, transverse members or barsx tb, IfI, I2, I2-,whiclrare.rmly joined' together wher-@they meet bymeans' of bolts I3, or any; -othersui'tableffastemng means...

The: transverse members are; designed to rest upon.- theJ surfaceef, the iiatcar platform A' as show-ns in. Figure, 2,` with their ends overhanging the sides thereof as at 4. The longitudinal members-are spaced` fromeach otl'ierk a.. distance equal tomi: slightly; greater thamxthefwidthxof the platform, sa that when theu cradle is applied thereto, said.y longitudinal members lie closely adjacent the sides.- thereot, oyerthe: stakei pockets 9.. The longitudinal members Hl, HV, should not be greater. in width: :than the: Width of the: stake pocket so as not to increase the overall width of the flatcar. When in position, the Itop surfaces I 4 of the longitudinal members are coincident with the top surface A of the flatcar. In handling some types of equipment, it may be desirable to place the longitudinal members on top of the transverse bars. The cradle is suitably removably fastened to the platform or stake pockets I6 by bolts, spikes, straps, wire, or other means I8, the fastening means I8 being shown as a bolt which passes through the longitudinal bar I0 and through the stake pocket I6, the bolt `or additional support.

shown in Figure 1. Each pair of transverse bars is spaced from its adjoining pair by a distance which is substantially equal to that of the wheel-v base of the vehicles to be transported. 'I 'his distance may be established by striking an imaginary line Ila, I2a centrally .between each pair of transverse members and measuring thedistance between said lines. The transversebars of each pair are so spaced and arranged with respect to said imaginary line as to form a chock yfor the front and rear of each wheel supported thereon.

By the use of this cradle two vehicles may be placed side by side on a flat car as lshown in Figure 5, whereas without it the average flatcar width could accommodate only one, as shown in Figure 6. The outside wheels l5 of the vehicles rest on the longitudinal members l0, I0', supported in front and rear by the transverse members which function as chock blocks and also as cleats for attaching tie-downsv to limit forward, rearward orupward movement of the vehicles. The inside wheels of each vehicle rest on the platform of the car, similarly supported in front and rear so as to limit longitudinal movement. It will be obvious that the cradle may be made of wood, iron, steel, or other suitable material. For ease in handling, the cradle for the full length of the car may be made up in sections, as shown in Figure 2. Each section will accommodate ftwo vehicles, placed side by side, or, in the case of exceptionally wide vehicles, one vehicle, and as many sections as are required may be used.

'I'he present invention permits double decking in the manner well known in the art. In the case of the one-quarter ton military truck referred to herein, by reversing the direction of the upper vehicle -with respect to the lower one, it

vhas been found that the lower one will eflciently support the upper one without any framework The stacking of one vehicle above another is known as doubledecking and is widely utilized `to increase the payload of the flatcar. By this means sixteenA one-quarter ton military trucks have been carried by one flatcar.

The cradle constitutes a preformed chock block which is simple in construction and easy of application. Its use eliminates the very considerable amount of labor formerly required to install separate chock blocks for each wheel. The transverse members may be used, instead of installing separate cleats, for attaching tie-down 4 straps or wires from the fronts and rears of vehicles either by passing these under the members -or through holes which may be provided therein. Cleats, however, may be used if desired. The foregoing description is intended primarily by way of illustration and exemplication and many obvious changes may be necessary according to the nature of the vehicles shipped. It will `be obvious, for example, that for greater ease in handling, the unit shown in Figure 1 may be made in two sections by cutting the longitudinal bars in two midway of their length. While the specication and claims refer to vehicle transport, it is not intended to limit the invention thereto, as it is intended that ithe invention may be applied to any transportable object Other changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A removable cradle for temporarily increasing the effective width of a standard flatcar deck without increasing the overall width or length of the car and designed for transport of vehicles disposed in side-fby-side relation, the said cradle being composed of a plurality of separate sections, each section comprising parallel laterally spaced bars adapted to extend longitudinally along the sides of a ilatcar above the usual stake pockets of the car with their upper surfaces flush with the deck surface of the car, the inside of the longitudinal bars engaging the sides of the flatcar, pairs of chock bars connected to the said laterally spaced bars and secured thereto at the ends of the said chock bars, the said chock bars being arranged in spaced pairs, the individual bars of each pair being spaced to grip each wheel of the vehicles being transported forwardly and rearwardly thereof for preventing rolling of the vehicles during transport while allowing the wheels to rest on the deck of the flatcar, each pair of the bars having its central longitudinal axis spaced from the corresponding axis of the adjacent pair .by a distance equal to that of the vwheelbase of the vehicles being transported, the said cradle increasing the effective vWidth of the deck of the flatcar in an amount permitting the vehiclesrto be loaded on the car in side-by-side relation as Well as end-to-end, without increase in the overall width of the car, and means for removably securing each section of the cradle to the stake pockets.

ALFRED L. CUPP.

REFERENCES CITED 

